Where Are You From?

I used to think that about the most annoying possible answer to that question was "All over." Really now, nearly everybody has some sort of a home base. Be it where their family is or where they last lived, you have to have somewhere that you're from.

Oh, how times change. It's a question with which I'm faced fairly frequently, and over the past year, it's become a bear for me to answer. Do I reply "Colorado," where I'm legally a resident, but have only spent about two months of my life? Should I answer "Ohio," which I used as a base of operations for much of last summer? Or what about "Seattle," the last place that I truly feel that I lived? How about telling people "I'm from Indiana," since that's where I was born and raised, and still have family and friends?

Or maybe they intend the question differently. Maybe they're asking where my last stop was. Does that mean I should tell my well-intentioned questioner where I camped along the way the night before, or the last city that I stayed in? Or would it be more appropriate to give an abbreviated replay of where all I've been in the past... week? Month? Three months? Did the trip that took me to Salt Lake City, where I currently am, begin in Wendover UT, San Francisco, Seattle, or Denver? All of them could be legitimate answers.

Do I awkwardly attempt to explain all of that? These days, I just throw my hands up, accept the irony, and tell people, "I'm kind of from all over." It's easier that way, I promise.